Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James added another milestone to his legendary career Thursday night, claiming the NBA record for most career field goals made.
The historic moment came when James connected on a turnaround jumper from 12 feet away, shooting over Denver’s Zeke Nnaji with just 12 seconds remaining in the opening quarter of the Lakers’ matchup with the Nuggets.
That successful shot marked James’ 15,838th career field goal during his remarkable 23rd NBA season. The previous record holder, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, finished his illustrious 20-year career in 1989 with 15,837 made field goals. Karl Malone sits in third place, but significantly behind with 13,528 career baskets.
This latest achievement adds to James’ growing collection of NBA records. In February 2023, he overtook Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time scoring champion. James already held the record for most playoff points scored, and one year ago he reached 50,000 combined points between regular season and postseason play.
James entered Thursday’s contest having taken more shots than any player in NBA history – 31,274 field goal attempts, including over 7,500 three-point tries.
Abdul-Jabbar, known for his dominant low-post play and signature skyhook, shot over 50% from the field in 19 consecutive seasons to begin his career. However, he attempted fewer total shots at 28,307, with only 18 three-point attempts after the shot was added to the game during his career.
Abdul-Jabbar maintained a 55.9% shooting percentage throughout his career, compared to James’ 51.6% accuracy.
James had tied Abdul-Jabbar’s mark earlier in the game with an alley-oop dunk assisted by Luka Doncic, trimming Denver’s early advantage to 16-7.
At age 41, James continues establishing new benchmarks for career longevity and accomplishments, recently becoming the oldest player in league history to record a triple-double.
Prior to the game, Lakers head coach J.J. Redick drew an interesting comparison between his star player and music legend Bruce Springsteen.
“Yeah, I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan, and I would probably say his early albums really, really get me going,” Redick explained. “There’s a youthfulness to him, you know, in energy. ‘Nebraska’ is actually my favorite album of all time. And that’s very different from what he had done that far in his career. And then you can kind of see the evolution of him as a singer-songwriter. and then he comes out with the greatest hits. And you’re like, ‘Wow, this is pretty good.’ And then after that he comes out with ‘The Rising,’ which is one of the most important albums of the 2000s. So, you get to the end and you’re like, ‘Holy man, this guy’s greatest hits are like insane.’ And LeBron’s greatest hits, right? He just keeps adding to them. He just plays and plays and plays and the greatest hits, he’s got a hell of a catalog.”
Additional history could be made next month if James stays healthy. Thursday’s game represented his 1,606th regular season appearance, placing him just five contests behind Robert Parish’s all-time record of 1,611 games. James already owns the playoff games record with 292 appearances.
While James remains undecided about returning to Los Angeles next season, he believes he can continue performing at an elite level for years to come. Despite missing 18 games due to injury this season, he earned his 22nd All-Star selection, though the missed time likely eliminates him from postseason All-NBA team consideration.
